On Nov 27, 2005, at 8:13 AM, Ric Whitney wrote:
>
> Thanks George!
>
> Here's what went through my head while watching it:
>
> Marketing.
> Research & Development
> The mall figuring out who would buy what next and who was just
> shopping with no
> intention of buying anything.
>
> I obviously skipped 1984, though I've heard of it.
>
> Thanks for the synopsis.
>
> Ric
Interestingly enough, the same thing went through my head for the
first part of it -- until the system started digging into chemical
compositions and genetic traits of each individual. Fortunately,
_that_ kind of technology is a long ways off.
Using RFID tags and other such means to establish buying trends and
so on is fine -- companies do that much already on a much broader
scale (there is a reason why Walmart has one of the largest IT
departments in the nation, and it's /not/ for writing consumer
software). Using these tools to establish close-quarter genetic and
medical information, however, crosses the faint line between public
and private information gathering. After that, it immediately
reminded me of 1984.
Seeing as this is a Linux-related list, I'm going to tie something in
here. If you're running Debian (or one of it's derivatives -- I think
Ubuntu has it in either Universe or Multiverse), try installing the
scummvm package and then installing beneath-a-steel-sky. The entire
game revolves around getting out of a city that is under big-brother
control by a sentient computer system called "LINC" -- much like how
this movie was watching and "digging" into people in the shopping
mall. Interestingly enough, the catch-phrase for the game is "Be
Vigilant".
We now return you to your previously off-topic thread... =op
--
June Tate *
june@theonelab.com *
http://www.theonelab.com
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